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The dos, don’ts of resumés

Jim Beatty recalls reviewing the resumé of a young man in search of employment. Everything looked fine until Beatty got to the job-seeker’s contact information.

Jim Beatty recalls reviewing the resumé of a young man in search of employment. Everything looked fine until Beatty got to the job-seeker’s contact information.

The e-mail address contained a flippant name that might have brought chuckles from his young friends but would have raised the eyebrows of prospective employers.

The example illustrates how many people have marketable skills but don’t know how to market those skills.

Beatty, who is a marketing instructor at Olds College’s school of business, has been teaching students strategies for finding desirable jobs for about 20 years.

He has a short presentation highlighting the dos and don’ts of job hunting that he’s shared with thousands of students, including those in his own classes at Olds College.

On Tuesday, Beatty was in Red Deer to share his insights with high school students from Red Deer Public School District’s alternative programs schools.

Flawed resumés, he said, are a common problem.

“I have seen thousands of student resumés over the years,” he said, estimating that fewer than one per cent have been mistake-free.

Even a good resumé can sabotage a job-hunter if it directs potential employers to a telephone number with an offensive voice mail and rap music playing in the background, suggested Beatty.

“That doesn’t work for an employer.”

He also stressed the importance of developing a portfolio with such things as school transcripts, copies of projects and letters of reference.

That can help applicants move beyond a simple question-and-answer interview to one in which they can direct the discussions and focus on their strong points.

Networking is critical to the job search process, said Beatty. Develop new contacts and utilize those you already have to connect with jobs, he advised.

“Eighty per cent of the jobs that are out there never get advertised. They’re all filled through networking.”

Beatty also urges people not to distribute their resumé on a broad basis in hopes of finding someone who’s hiring.

“You might as well take a bucket of paint and throw it on the wall. Some of it will stick, but most of it will go down to the floor.”

Responding to job postings on the Internet is not a good use of time either, he suggested, because so many other people will also respond.

Beatty recommends identifying a company that you would like to work for and researching it carefully. Ask for an “information interview” and thereafter express interest in its operations and the possibility of future employment, he said.

“You have to demonstrate to the employer that you can add value to the company,” said Beatty, adding that the absence of an existing job opening should not be a deterrent.

“Good managers are always looking for potential employees.”

Beatty began counselling students on job-search techniques while teaching at Humber College and George Brown College in Toronto. Graduates were having a tough time finding work — a situation that persists at many other post-secondary institutions today.

“In general, colleges and universities are not very good at teaching people how to get jobs.”

Although most of his presentations are to young people, he’s spoken to older audiences as well.

“When you’ve worked in the same job for 15 years you don’t necessarily know how to best market yourself.”

Beatty can be contacted by email at Olds College at jbeatty@oldscollege.ca.

hrichards@www.reddeeradvocate.com